


Understudy

by CultOfSparrow, Isolato



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Boss/Employee Relationship, Consensual Sex, Dating, Depictions of Fighting, Everyone is Pansexual Probably, Experiments of the body, F/M, Female Bodied Frisk, Female Frisk, Gaster with Glasses, Lab Assistant AU, Moral Ambiguity, Moral Dilemmas, Multi, Possible smut, Possible torture, Pre-War AU, Science, Science Experiments, Sexy Gaster, Toddler Undyne, War, definitely violence, depictions of war, possible blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-22 19:06:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6091029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CultOfSparrow/pseuds/CultOfSparrow, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isolato/pseuds/Isolato
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 20XX, not too long before the war between humans and monsters take place.  Just out of college, Frisk takes on an internship under the guidance of the reclusive Doctor W.D Gaster, hoping to learn more about science, and herself. However, with human-monster relations on the brink, their science experiments may not be the only thing endangering their lives.</p><p>Recently revived after a two year hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> This work is the combined efforts of cult-of-sparrow of tumblr (getting an ao3 as fast as he can), and myself, isolato. This is written as a partial roleplay with the intent to be posted as a fanfic. As thus, be warned this has an omniscient point of view, and the transitions may not always be smooth. However, we hope that nonetheless, you will enjoy our little story! We're quite proud of what we have so far, and we hope to have your ongoing support!
> 
> Regarding the tags, we have MANY things planned for this fanfic, including an entire arc AFTER our planned death occurs. We will be adding tags as new tags are needed, so no worries! Nothing TOO majorly awful (like violence, blood, smut, etc.) until later in the story and I will be tagging heavily and accordingly.
> 
> Please enjoy!

After four long years in pre-med school, changing her major twice, and finally giving up on actually earning a specific degree, the young student Frisk had decided to instead pursue an internship underneath other scientists. Well, specifically speaking, she wished to shadow them and learn more about their jobs, see what they did, and hopefully find a field of study she actually had an interest in. That was the plan anyway.

Now, finding a scientist near her that would take on such a student, let alone one that didn’t have a particular field of study nor really declared major, that was the challenge. She browsed and scoured records and lists, trying to find someone,  _ anyone _ that would take her on. However, all human scientists turned her away, and there weren’t really a whole lot of monster scientists.

There was one. His name struck out from the rest as it wasn’t one she often saw. Gaster. Dr. W.D Gaster. He had his own lab, and she wasn’t quite sure where the funding came from (because, from the looks of it, there was quite a bit) but she was eager to learn, and she had no qualms against the monsters. She wasn’t like the rest of her kind, in that sense. They were all so afraid because monsters could take human souls. She herself had never encountered a mean monster. How could she judge them before she got to know them?

She got up her application papers and put them in a file, heading over to his laboratory dressed in the most professional, yet best looking, outfit she could find. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, and she decided against wearing her reading glasses for the day, opting for contacts instead. Guys didn’t like geeky girls in glasses, and she wanted to make an impression. As for the rest of her outfit, she wore a button up blouse with a black jacket over it, and a skirt coming to her knees.

To finish it off, she wore a cute little necklace with a pink heart on it. It was something she had been given by her mother. Or rather, her late mother. She never really got to know the woman well. As for her father, while he supported her, he didn’t quite talk much and was always too absorbed in his work to actually be plugged in to his daughter’s life. Nonetheless, she loved him dearly.

She finally got up the nerve to knock on the front door of the building, considering it wasn’t a public building, and she waited, her nerves practically eating her alive. She hoped he wasn’t mean or cranky. She wondered what he looked like. She honestly hoped he wasn’t handsome. She would hate to get a crush on her boss. How unprofessional! But then again if he was ugly, or an eyesore, would she like working with him? Or what if he was a creepy old guy who liked girls in pencil skirts and done-up hair?

She wished she would have worn glasses. Or gotten more than six hours of sleep last night.

He would have been a royal scientist if the monsters had their own monarchy. To monsterkind, Doctor W. D. Gaster was probably the highest caliber of scientist. He had created various things for the monster society to use so that they could fit into human society easier, ranging from electronic translators that translated Froggit’s croaks to english to material that wouldn’t burn at the touch of flame elementals. He was quite proud of that one, actually. He was funded through donations mainly, which was really quite successful somehow, seeing how monsters made less than men. Then again… Gaster had his ways of getting money. Mainly through begrudging communication with humans and getting funding through them.   
  
Now, Gaster did not exactly hate humans, he just didn’t particularly trust them. Then again, he didn’t particularly trust monsters either. This lead to his constant staying inside of his lab, working almost nonstop at his studies or experiments. His work was praised, but he would never hear any of it.   
  
In any sense, really. While he would pointedly ignore most compliments of his work, he was also deaf from an experiment blowing up in his face. Literally. He had lost his hearing and received two long cracks near his eyesockets. One extended up, the other down towards his smile. It really gave him a sort of austere look, and easily intimidated others. That, and his height. He was very tall, and very thin. Mainly because he was a skeleton.    
  
Due to his lack of hearing, Gaster spoke fluent sign language. This proved to be a problem a lot of the time. He used to have a translator, a bird monster, but she didn’t exactly meet Gaster’s standards. His standards being, translating what he said correctly, showing up on time, and not gossiping. He had fired her, and he considered getting a new one but he hadn’t gotten around to it.    
  
Most mail Gaster would get was one of three things usually. That being donations, mail praising him from monsters, and bills. He’d accept the donations, throw away the praise, and pay the bills. What he was NOT expecting to find was an application and a letter of recommendation. A human wanted to work with monsters? Of all monsters, with him?   
  
Gaster was honestly about to throw it away but… he did need a lab assistant. He was bad at deadlines, honestly, and that was because he would get lost in the work and not fill out the paperwork or anything. He was skeptical of the applicant, but… had replied to her application anyway inviting her over for an interview. 

Gaster glanced at his security cameras he had installed around the area and saw her approaching the door. She had knocked and he still hadn’t moved from the corner of the lab he was watching in. Mainly he was gauging her seriousness of the job. In his defense on the cameras, he couldn’t exactly hear anyone knock so he sighed and finally went to the door, opening it.   
  
He looked down at the human through a small pair of glasses on his face. He had made those himself so they would stay on him without needing tape to hold them there. Gaster wore a white turtleneck, and black jacket. Over it was his white lab coat. Gaster waved his greeting and signed,   
‘Welcome, my name is Doctor Gaster. Come in.’

“Hello Doctor Gaster. I am Frisk. It is nice to meet you.” She signed back, falling into sign language quite easily. It took her a bit by surprise that he was signing, but she just assumed, then, that he must be deaf. Taking those supplemental sign language courses was really working out for her in her favor. She didn’t even realize that she had put sign language as one of her important skills. To be honest, she just thought it would make her look better.

Glancing up at him, she finally got a chance to see what he looked like. Well, she had to admit - the cracks in his face did make him seem a little scary. And the fact that he was a skeleton, well… to be honest, she wasn’t a fan of scary movies. But he didn’t look like your normal skeleton. He actually had a handsome face, which kinda startled her more than anything else. She had literally just thought to herself about how she hoped he wasn’t handsome, as she didn’t want to end up getting the hots for her boss.

She had to admit, the glasses were cute. Not that she had a thing for guys with glasses or anything. But they were cute.

She walked inside, taking the chance to look around and see what the environment was like.

The lab was an odd mix of sterile and pristine and a disorganized mess. Any workspace that had parts, chemicals, or tools on it was organized and everything was in it’s place. It almost seemed like if anyone were to shift anything so carefully placed out, they would be committing a crime. Honestly, if someone were to move something without Gaster’s permission, they would be in quite a bit of trouble with Gaster. The floor was kept clean and the only blemishes were under some tables where acid had burnt it. It was a metal floor, made to look more like tile, but the slight clang of walking over proved that it wasn’t actually tile. He needed sturdy floors for the fact there were other floors to the lab, and the fact explosions were not rare and he didn’t want to waste his money on new floors each time.

The mess was on any other table. Paperwork would be all over it and it didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to the way they were stacked. Lab reports mixed with receipts. The table in front of the screens that showed what the cameras saw was a mess with note pads, pens, broken pencils, and a few coffee mugs. More classified papers were written in wing dings. Gaster had a feeling he’d have to teach Frisk the font should she get the job. The only desk that was organized was the one he had cleared off earlier for the fact he had to do this interview.   
  
Gaster’s long strides soon brought them to said desk and he sat down behind hit, motioning for her to sit. He had her application and resume in front of him on his desk. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the paper a moment and then looked to Frisk.   
‘Why do you want this job?’ He started off the interview simple as that. He wasn’t one for circumventing.

Glancing around at everything, she got the impression that he wasn’t one for organization. At least, not with his paperwork. She had expected that, however - she already had several organization systems prepared in her mind should the need arise for her to use them, and he not liking one that she comes up with. She was doing her best to prepare for the job she was hoping to get.

She took a seat when she was invited, and tucked her skirt underneath her thighs, looking up at him and doing her best to sit with the perfect posture, perfect face, perfect everything. It made sitting feel incredibly uncomfortable, but that was alright. She just wanted the internship. 

“I want this job so I can further my knowledge in the scientific fields.” She signed calmly, prepared for this question. “And perhaps, through watching you, I might find a particular branch of study that I want to specialize in!” She signed, a smile crossing her features. To be honest, she couldn’t pick just one that she liked, because she liked them all. She loved the mathematical side of physics and chemical equations. She loved the beauty of astronomy. She loved helping people with medicine. How could she just pick one?

She awaited his response eagerly.

Gaster read her hands, but more importantly her face. He could tell by her posture she was forcing it, and that she was trying to be professional. For as professional as Gaster came off as, he really wasn’t. He couldn’t be, not when his work was as unethical as it sometimes was. He saw her smile and he caught a glimpse at the actual Frisk. He’d much rather be ‘talking’ to them. Gaster reached into the desk and pulled out a tablet and wrote in wingdings. ‘Enthusiastic’. 

He nodded a little bit after writing it and he asked his next question. ‘Tell me about yourself.’ Gaster was always curious as to how people would answer this. He steepled his hands and leaned forward a bit, curious. He soon dropped that posture though to get his pen and tablet, ready to take note of anything she’d say.

Tell him about herself? Hm. That was a good question. She was prepared for that, as well, but even as she told him she hoped she was giving good answers to impress him.

“I love learning new things and experiencing new things. I try to approach every situation with an open mind. Um…” She stopped signing to think a few moments. She smiled as she glanced back up at him. “Oh, and I’m very well organized.” She said, glancing over at the mess on the other table before bringing her eyes back to him.  She hoped that was a good enough answer for him, she wasn’t sure what else to say.

Gaster nodded a little bit at first, but the smile and the glance over to his mess was quite amusing to him. A soft noise was heard as he chuckled a little to himself at that. He took that as a good sign. She could take a subtle jab at his messiness, while offering a solution. Observant and open minded. Good. He made a few more notes on the papers.

‘You would obviously be working with me, and I work mainly with monsters. Will this be a problem? Also, you are most likely aware of humanities… outlook, on monsters. Are you willing to face these facts and may be treated differently because of these outlooks?’ Gaster signed. He was mainly talking about how other humans may look down on her for working under him. The question was also to see how she might react from pressure.

He had certainly asked her a loaded question, hadn’t he? Of course, she was more than happy to respond, as there was no reason to lie about her stance on monsters.

“It won’t be a problem, at all! I’d love to meet other monsters on a more equal ground. I know that if I work with you, I will be looked down upon by my peers. However, I can handle it. The learning opportunity far outweighs any prejudice I might receive.” She signed calmly, relaxing a little in her shoulders. It gave her an opportunity to talk with him on a more personal level, at least, that’s how she felt.

“I do not view monsters the same way most of humanity does.” She explains calmly. 

To Gaster, the human seemed quite determined to learn. It was… actually quite refreshing. If she did get the job, that claim would be tested. Another possible perk of having her as his assistant was the fact she was human. He could get a better view of humanity through a different metaphorical lense. The main lense he saw it under was that of a microscopes.

‘Clearly your outlook on things may be different than that of most humans, seeing how you willingly applied to me. You seek knowledge and learning opportunities, but to what extent?’ He was of course, asking about her morals. He know he had very few, and he wanted to see if that would affect her in any way.

She wasn’t entirely sure what his question was asking. She could assume he meant that would she want to go deep into a particular field, but she wasn’t that naive and foolish. He was talking about, in the name of science, would she be willing to break the mores of the world around her.

“Ah, well...I try to view everything as a learning opportunity.” She told him, trying to find the right wording for this. She wasn’t quite sure what experiments he had exactly, so she couldn’t give him a solid answer. “And if some people frown upon ways to get knowledge, then that’s okay! I can deal with that.”

Gaster nodded a little bit. Clearly she was avoiding an actual answer but that could be from her lack of knowledge. He considered a moment. He leaned back and looked at her consideringly. He debated if he should ask if she would be the one frowning. She seemed metaphorically vocal enough to bring it up though, should an experiment bother her. He decided to move on.

‘Do you see yourself capable of doing the mundane to the extreme opposite of that?’ Gaster signed, wanting phrase it right. He would be doing a majority of the work, and he wanted to make sure that she would be capable of handling the lab and herself. He knew that some experiments would go by better with another person. It would probably be dangerous to her health, and he was perfectly fine risking it. He just had to confirm that she would be too.

“Of course. I understand that some days I will be doing paperwork, and other days we may be doing some...highly volatile things. I am fine with this.” She told him. “I will be more than happy to work with you, no matter the project.”   
  
Gaster nodded. This was a very good opportunity and she seemed eager. He still had to talk business though. He was already mentally planning her contract though. He was quite interested in having her as an assistant. She knew sign language fluently, and he had to admit, she wasn’t an eyesore.

‘I do have standards and rules. One, no sleeping on the job. Two, be punctual. Three, everything that happens here is not spoken about unless I specify otherwise. Should you work here, do you feel you can commit to these rules?’ He signed, scrawling out a slight outline in wing dings for the inevitable contract he’d have to make.

“Of course.” She said eagerly, nodding a little and glancing down at the sheet before back up at him. She didn’t know what any of those symbols meant - she supposed it must be a monster language of some sorts. She gave him a smile, awaiting anything else he might have to say to her.

Gaster returned the smile. She was quite the candidate. Not exactly like she had competition or other anything, but she seemed to be quite eager and possibly useful to Gaster. He nodded. 

‘Do you have any questions for me?’

“How will you be evaluating me?” She asked him. She didn’t really know how she would be judged, if at all, but she wanted to know that. After a few moments, she decided to add, “How long is this position open?” She was asking questions she had researched online, off a list of other ones, but she figured these were the most important to ask. 

‘You will be evaluated on how well you follow my instruction. If you contribute to an experiment and it isn’t something stupid and ridiculous, that will also count. If it is stupid and ridiculous, it will be counted against you.’ Gaster answered easily. It was how he evaluated anyone, really. He let out the dry chuckle again at her second question. ‘The position was hardly available, I did not exactly have much of an interest for a new assistant.’ He refrained from signing that she was making him have an interest.

Then she would make sure that her contributions wouldn’t be considered stupid and ridiculous in the least. However...she didn’t want that to mean she wasn’t allowed to take risks, either. Maybe one day, he’d see logic in her reasoning - just like she would learn to see how he thought, too. At the second statement, however, she felt a bit self conscious. If he wasn’t looking for a new assistant - she really would have to work hard to impress him.

Aaand then every single question she had researched flew out of her mind, so she was left to winging it. Wing-dinging it if you will. 

“I hope to prove myself useful for you, should you choose me.” There, she went with that. That seemed safe.

Gaster smirked and nodded. ‘Of course. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be kept around. Now, I do have one more question for you. What hours or days are you looking for to work?’ This seemed like an innocent enough question, but it was almost vital for Gaster to know this to decide. He couldn’t have a lab assistant who expected to hardly work. 

“I like having Saturdays off, but I’m fine to work any other days.” She told him calmly. “As for hours, I’m available for day or night shifts.” 

He nodded a bit. That seemed reasonable. Her vagueness and flexibility in her answer gave him both an advantage, and an answer he liked. ‘Good.’ He decided to keep his answer short and simple. He stood up. 

‘Your interview is over. You may leave, and you will be hearing from me soon with my decision.’ He was already leading her to the door as he spoke. He already knew it was a yes, but he still had to draw up the contract and make sure he wrote all of it in readable english and not wing dings. He had a habit of doing that.

“I am happy to work irregular hours!” She forgot to say that, so she signed that quickly to him as she headed towards the door. Stepping outside, she turned and smiled at him.

“Thank you so much for your time and for your interview. I look forward to hearing back from you.” She meant it. Even if it was a no, she was glad to have gotten a little peek into the world of monster scientists, and he seemed like a cool guy.

Gaster nodded a bit. He decided he would be quite early in contacting her, seeing how she had potential, eagerness, and it would only take about a day to come up with a contract to his, and hopefully hers, liking.

Gaster hesitated, and held out his hand after signing, ‘Thank you for coming in. It was very informative.’ After all, he would be polite about this, and not simply shut the door in her face as he usually did for others.

She headed home, happy that the interview had gone well. At least, she felt like it had gone well. She had a smile on her face as she did so. It’d been so long since she used so much sign language, she was going to brush up on it when she got home. She didn’t want to get it wrong, especially if her future boss and mentor needed to use it!

The rest of her day was centered on preparation for her job in the hopeful event she was accepted. She returned home, anxious to hear a response and hoping for the best as she brushed up on her sign language online.

As she lay in her bed that night, she stared up at the ceiling, wondering if she would actually get the job. She really hoped so. She thought that it would bring her a lot of learning opportunities, not only in the field of science but the field of monsters. Her upbringing didn’t give her a huge chance to encounter them - she had gone to an all humans, all girl’s private high school. Something to do with protecting her from the evils of the world? It was her father’s idea.

Her thinking was getting off track, however. She pulled her mind back together and drew it back towards Gaster and the job. She had to admit, he was not bad looking at all. Not that it mattered - but he didn’t seem like a creep. And it would be easier to work with someone who wasn’t hard on the eyes. Which he certainly wasn’t.

She flipped over on her pillow and buried her face deep into it. She needed to focus on other things right now. She could focus on his looks  _ after _ she got the job. Which wasn’t a sure thing at all.


	2. Formalities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk gets a very professional text from Gaster explaining she got the job, and the two engage in a conversation regarding her new internship.

 

The following day, all she could think about was if he would call. She supposed that she shouldn’t rush those things, after all. He could probably wait days before getting back to her. But she hoped that, just maybe, he would give her a call.

She ate her breakfast sleepily at eleven in the morning, watching her cell phone in anticipation.

After Frisk had left the lab, Gaster was tempted to set down everything and go back to the work he had been working on before hand but… he decided against it. He’d probably never get the contract done with that thinking. Instead he glanced over the notes he took about her interview and he smiled a bit to himself.

Gaster spent the remainder of the day, well into the night, drafting and perfecting the contract. It wasn’t too complicated. Simply the rules of the lab, what he expected from her, how she needed to dress, hours she would work, and her wage. Of course, it was the same wage that was basic for any monster lab assistant. He wouldn’t give her leeway because of her species, and nor would he discriminate upon her for it. Neither of them had exactly asked to be the species they were.

The main reason it took Gaster so long to actually draft and formulate the paper, was that he almost constantly wrote in wingdings for things he mentally deemed important. Contracts of any kind were most definitely important to him. He ended up translating the entire thing from wingdings to readable english. After of which, he went to bed.

His bedroom was also in the lab. (See definition of ‘Recluse’). He walked to a panel, pressed a few buttons, and it slid open for him, revealing a staircase that led up to his room. The room was almost pristine, seeing as he hardly ever used it. He had a habit of falling asleep at whichever desk in the main lab that was cleared off the most.

The next day, Gaster woke up early as per usual and immediately went back to work on that experiment. After that was done, it was just after ten. At which point, he realized he couldn’t exactly ring Frisk up on her phone due to his lack of hearing. He COULD go outside and knock at her door but… no. That wasn’t going to happen. Sending her a letter was an option, but that could never be trusted, and he had nothing written out. Email would have worked, but he knew that a lot of people (and monsters) were terrible at checking email. It was just after eleven when he decided on texting her. Quite unprofessional to him, but he didn’t think him hacking databases to find whatever video service she may use and call her on that would be any better.

 

Finally the damn thing buzzed and she nearly jumped out of her seat. Luckily, she did not, and it appeared that her orange juice was also safe, so she took a deep breath and opened the text message. She realized that that method was likely the most useful, though she had also given him an email….did he not think to use that? Ah, well.

 

NEW TEXT: Fr: Unknown. Subject: Employment.   
Frisk-

Your resume, letter, and outlook on the job position were quite admirable. It would be a pleasure to have you over again at 13:00 to discuss paperwork and your job.

  * Dr. W. D. Gaster



 

She read the text, a smile crossing her features. Excitement welled up in her and she cheered.

 

“I got the job!” She yelled, running into the living room to tell her father. He was reading the news, but when he heard that, he stood up to congratulate her, giving her a hug. She pulled away from him to glance at the text, remembering that she would actually have to answer him. Fuck.

She moved to her breakfast, practically scarfing it down before finally composing a message.

 

NEW TEXT: Fr: Frisk. Subject:Re:  Employment.   
Dr. W. D. Gaster

I am very grateful to hear, and I look forward to talking with you then.

 

  * Frisk



 

After that, she finished her breakfast, rose up to get a shower in, and get dressed to talk with him some more. She decided to go with business casual once more, though she didn’t put her hair up this time. She had long hair then, and it fell a bit past her shoulder in gentle curls. It wasn’t often she did so, but...it was a special occasion.

She also wore her glasses this time. She didn’t know if she looked good or not in them, but she figured that she might as well show him what she _ actually _ would look like half the time. And, since they weren’t working that day, she didn’t need to put her hair up.

As she headed out the door, she thought to herself, this is going to be a good day! 

In the time between the text and when they would meet, Gaster sat at the desk with all the screens in front of it, looking over the document one final time, while keeping an eye on the cameras for Frisk’s approach and arrival. He had to admit to himself… he was a bit excited. 

While Frisk wanted the experience and opportunity, Gaster had never really had many relations to the human world. It would be interesting for him to see how she behaved, if the whole separation of Monsters and Humans was really that necessary.

He glanced at the clock a few times, and when he was done looking over the contract, he decided to move himself to the still slightly cleared off desk that they had had the interview at. He neatly placed the papers on the desk, one copy for himself, and a copy for Frisk. He also made sure he had pens out that worked. 

She made sure to be five minutes early on arrival, and she looked up at the camera, giving it a little wave. She only found it because she realized that knocking on the door would prove to be counterproductive since he was deaf. She crossed her hands in front of her, blinking as she waited at the door for him to retrieve her.

Gaster saw her waiting by the door and opened it for her, giving her a smile. He didn’t keep her waiting long, as he also had cameras on the pathway leading up to the door. If he wanted to, he probably could have just flung it open as she knocked. He didn’t though, because that would be creepy. 

He stepped aside to let her in, then shut the door behind them. He signed, “Welcome back, Frisk.” He led her back to the table and sat down, again and habitually, motioning for her to sit. “Please look over this and ask me if you need any clarifications before I ask you to sign.”

She nodded, taking several minutes to look over the contract and it's terms. Her father hadn't raised a fool after all. She wanted to make sure they're weren't any hidden terms she would agree with. Luckily,there wasn't anything that stuck out to her as unreasonable or sneaky. There was a waiver she had to sign so he family couldn't sue if a life threatening experiment went wrong. However she thought that as just maybe mixing chemicals. So, she signed. Well, would sign.

“Well, I've looked over it a few times and I don't see anything I disagree with.” She said calmly, glancing back up to him.

Gaster watched her read through it in silence. Not like he could really vocally break the silence. The only noises he really ever made were when he would laugh, which was rare, or when he would cry out in pain from managing to hurt himself via experiments one way or another. That was more common. 

When she glanced up, he smiled a bit at what she signed. Good. That made it easy for the both of them. She wouldn’t be expected to work that day, but she would be the following day. He signed back, “Excellent. I’ll need you to sign” He stopped using ASL for that to take a pen and point to the places she needed to sign on the document.

She signed as was requested of her, excited that she would be able to start working with him soon. When she was finished, she leaned back and glanced at him. 

"Is there anything else you need for me to do?" She signed looking back up at him hopefully. Truth be told, she was excited to start working as soon as possible. She hoped that he would give her a schedule soon. Not that she would mind a nonstructured form of work, but she likes to jump headfirst into things once she knew what she was doing.

Gaster then took the forms and signed a few lines himself as for legalities. For the contract, they were technically done, but Gaster didn’t want to just kick her out. After all, they would be in close spaces sometimes and he’d much rather get to know his assistant than just toss them out as soon as she was done. He considered a moment.

“Would it be possible for you to bring me a copy of your medical records?” He asked. He decided he would need those for future reference. He hesitated then clarified. “Though I may now be your employer, I am still limited in access I can gain in your world.” It was a sad but true fact. Humans didn’t particularly like the idea of monsters having access to all their personal information.

Gaster also pulled out a calendar and a red pen. He set those on the table. “Also, I would appreciate it if you wrote in what scheduling would work best for you. Simply so I may have an idea for when I create your spreadsheet for working. Please include breaks you intend to have. And holidays.” He passed the items to her.

She had to admit, she was wondering what would happen after she signed the contract. What he just send her home? To be honest, she also would have rather stayed back and learn more about her employer. Or, as it turned out, he wanted to learn more about her. Or rather, her medical records. It was a start, and she supposed over time they could get to know which other in other fields,  so she wasn't going to get too upset about it. Fact, she wasn't going to get upset at all.

"Oh, oh, sure." She said, giving him a small smile. She understood that because she was a human and he was a monster, he wouldn't be able to get that information as easily as she would. "That wouldn't be a problem at all.”

She looked down at the calendar, trying to think about what sort of breaks and what holidays she wanted to take off. She settled for thanksgiving, but not Christmas. That never felt like an actual holiday to her, at least not after the incident.

Other than Thanksgiving, she really couldn't foresee herself taking off other holidays. They didn't have a New Year's at her house, but then again, now that she thought about it, they didn't really celebrate anything at her house anymore.

She hesitated on marking off any other days. She glanced back up at him, deciding she would ask him if it would be OK for him to give her a certain amount of break days instead, and give him at least a weeks notice before she took them.

She signed the question not really sure what else to do.

Gaster nodded, pleased that she was good to work with. He liked the glasses too. Her hair was nice, but it’d get in the way of a lot of experiments. He knew she’d stick to the rules though and have it up like she was supposed to. He honestly felt himself start to set his expectations of her high. That was probably a good thing.

“You will of course have weekends off. As for the rest of the weeks that aren’t holidays you have asked off, you can have one weekday off every two to three weeks, depending on how much of a workload there is.” He informed. “And yes. Having notice is mandatory or there will be consequences for not showing up. The only exception being illness or family emergencies such as death.”

When she was done, he took back the calendar and looked over it. He gave it a nod in approval seeing that that was in order. This was all going quite smoothly. Gaster set it aside and looked at her. “You are free to leave, unless you have any questions for me?” He signed, offering a smile to say that it was perfectly fine to ask him questions

If she knew that she was setting such a high standard for herself, she probably would've blushed in embarrassment. This was probably the most natural she'd  been acting the entire time she met him. However, since she noticed or rather didn't notice that she was setting such a high standard for herself, she continued to act normal. Normal being herself.

As for questions, she wasn't quite sure what questions she should ask him. She felt nervous, like if she didn't ask him something that he would judge her or maybe even be hurt. And she didn't want that.

“ do you prefer coffee or tea?” She settled on that because she thought that maybe perhaps she could bring him his favorite drink The first day she started working for him. She Wanted to make a good impression with him and she wanted to make the first day of working there a success.

Gaster was admittedly a bit startled by the question. He had expected… He wasn’t sure. But his drink preference was a surprise to him. He held back a laugh, because he had no idea what it sounded like and found that would probably be unprofessional of him.

“I prefer tea. Any kind.” He answered with a smile. He thought a moment, wondering if he could have a favorite tea. “Golden flower tea is good, though I prefer the stronger teas.” He mused, his hands signing in a less tense way than before. “Which do you prefer?”

“ to be honest I'm more of a cocoa girl myself.” She signed, holding back a giggle. She had never heard of Golden flower tea before, so she wondered if it was just a monster thing. However, she wasn't going to be rude, so she made a mental note to go get some at the store tonight. She didn't realize that she was making such a good first impression, so she was really trying her hardest to get on his good side.

She did notice, however, that her question had made him ease up, and that filled her with ease herself. She didn't want him to be tense around her, especially considering their two species’s relationship. 

“But I prefer tea over coffee.” She concluded with that, relaxing into her seat. 

Gaster tried not to chuckle again at her answer. It was interesting how she decided to answer honestly, even if was outside of the criteria. He wondered if she would be like that when working and honestly… he wouldn’t mind. It would be nice to have another mind around, and one that spoke freely made it all the better.

Her conclusion made him just continue to smile a bit and he nodded. Good, she knew how to tie an answer outside of the question back into it. He made mental notes of all of this. He thought a moment. “I would prefer you wear glasses when coming to work. It will protect your eyes, and contacts are more prone to being affected by the chemicals we may use.” He signed as a sort of afterthought. It was a bonus that she looked quite cute in them. He pushed that thought away.

The smile on his face encouraged her, and she knew she did well with her answer. To be honest, she thought that honesty was the best policy. Like he said, she managed to tie the answer that was outside the criteria into the original question. She didn't even realize that it was an admirable trait.

When he commented on her glasses, she took mental note to wear them from now on. She noted, to show him that she had listen to what he had to say. Or rather, watched what he had to sign. Got a love switching your own vocabulary because he's deaf and doesn't  actually speak anymore. 

“Note taken. I'll make sure to leave my contacts at home.” she signed seriously. She didn't want to disagree with him on anything, unless of course she thought it was detrimental. 

Gaster nodded, taking another mental note about how agreeable she was. He wondered if that agreeability outweighed morals or the other way around. He had a feeling at some point his experiments would end up testing that. 

He thought a moment and decided to sign, “Any other questions for me?”

She took a moment or two to think about whether or not she had any more questions. She came to the conclusion that she did not, and glanced back up to him before shaking her head.

“ no, I don't think I have anymore questions. I will likely have more questions when I start working but right now I can't think of anything.” She signed, giving him a small smile to know that she wasn't really upset or anything.

Gaster nodded and stood up to walk her to the door. He felt like this had gone exceptionally well, especially that he got to see some of her personality aspects that interviews didn’t quite give you. “I hope to see you tomorrow at 9. Don’t be late, and I will also give you your schedule tomorrow.” He signed before actually moving to lead her there

She stood up and followed him to the door. She thought that this had gone well too.

“I look forward to working with you. And, thank you so much for this opportunity!” She signed excitedly. 

Gaster looked back at her, watching her hands, and also the excitement in her face. A small darker part of him wondered just how quickly that excitement and eagerness would break. He ignored that part of him and instead signed back with, “The same could be said to you.”

She beamed, before turning and leaving. She had a lot to prepare for, and granted she was excited but she was also nervous. She would have to go find Golden Flower tea and she didn't even know where to find it. Maybe she'd visit a store that usually only monsters shopped. 

Yeah! That seemed solid. 


	3. Friends & Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk goes to a monsters-only store to try to obtain Golden Flower tea, and has a run-in with a monster who isn't so friendly to humans as she is to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for how slow I was at updating this. We may have...forgotten that we were supposed to keep publishing our roleplay as we worked on it. Terribly sorry! Updates should be more regular, as we have a few more chapters for you guys to enjoy!  
> Thank you SO much for the support that we have received.

She ended up going to a shady little corner store, probably in a side of town that she had been advised against going to. However, since her boss was a monster, she figured she didn't have to heed that advice. After all, if she was nice to them, they would hopefully be nice to her. That's what she hoped anyway. 

She parked (and locked) her car, walking in the shop and the bell tinkled behind her. She glanced around, not sure where she would even find the tea that Gaster liked. She wasn't even sure where she would find the tea aisle, and there were lots of rows of food she didn't think humans would eat, but she would have to try. 

A young bunny shopkeeper ran the little store. While the store was in a considerably seedy sort of area, the store itself on the inside wasn’t so bad. It was neat, cleaned up, and had wide aisles to make up for larger monsters or those with horns. If Frisk were to look closely at the shelves, each shelf tier had a ring for service button for the monsters that couldn’t reach anything. At the front of store where her counter was, there was a little bakery display of cinnamon roll bunnies and the like.

She looked up as the bell rang, finishing up a moldsmol and a moldbygg check out. They were buying slime supplements. The moldsmol and moldbygg stayed out of Frisk’s way as she entered, then wiggled out of the store. The bunny looked to Frisk and smiled a bit. “Hello traveller. How can I help you? Also, if you break the packaging, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist you buy it.” She had been having some troubles of teen humans coming in and messing up the store’s goods. Frisk didn’t exactly look like a troublemaker, but she still felt she had to bring up the policy.

Frisk looked up at the shopkeeper and gave her a warm, friendly smile. What a pretty lady! She hadn't seen a monster bunny before, but she was glad to meet one now. She hoped she would meet plenty of monsters working with Dr. Gaster. And hopefully befriend them, too! 

“Hello! I'm looking for golden flower tea. Do you sell that here?” She asked hopefully. She glanced around the store again momentarily - taking in any information she could. 

The shopkeeper gave a bright smile at the suggestion. “Oh yes, I do! It’s quite popular. Just down aisle three.” She pointed to the row that had the number printed clearly above it, and on the floor before it. “It should be in the middle shelf, nearer the front.” She said helpfully. It was rare for humans to be so polite, and not comment on her or any customer’s appearance.

The store was pretty quiet but, there was one person in aisle three. A quite tall (just shorter than Gaster) blue part fish monster. Her two sharper teeth could be seen sticking out a bit, her cheekbones just as sharp as the teeth. She had long red hair that was pulled back into a tight but, and sharp yellow eyes. She held a box of the golden flower tea and was considering if she needed anything to go with it.

She thanked the bunny lady and, without hesitation, moved to the third aisle. She stopped when she saw the rather tall fish lady monster holding the box of golden flower tea, and she stood awkwardly for a moment or two, not really sure what to do. To be honest, she kinda looked scary. Finally, Frisk decided to stop being rude or a creep and finally say something. 

“Excuse me? Is that Golden Flower tea?” Frisk asked timidly. Even if this woman wasn't mean, she did have a powerful aura about her. Frisk was a little intimidated by her. 

The woman glanced over to the voice with a nod. “That it is, punk.” Her usual way of speaking. She hadn’t really looked at Frisk and had to almost do a double take. Since when was a human suddenly interested in that tea? Humans never drank it. She turned and looked at her with a slight frown in her strong features. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this. “Since when did humans care about it?” She said a bit suspiciously.

She wanted to shrink away, not wanting to stir up trouble. Especially not with this lady who almost definitely could crush her with ease. 

“Oh, um...well my boss likes it, so I thought I would bring him some for my first day on the job….” She hoped honesty would earn her brownie points with this woman, because it seemed to do quite well with Gaster. 

“Uh huh, and you are aware that humans don’t exactly work for monsters.” She didn’t exactly calm down, still glaring and tense. In fact her honesty only made her more tense. “So, what’s your deal?” She looked almost ready to fight.

The shopkeeper noticed this and did call out, “Dyne, please… no fighting in my shop.” The woman gave the bunny a huff but relaxed a bit and stepped aside with a forced smile. “Whatever punk. Get what you want and get out.” She practically growled.

She was going to answer when that lovely bunny shopkeeper interjected. She internally breathed a sigh of relief. Heroes came in all shapes and sizes, she supposed. She quickly grabbed a box of golden flower tea, moving warily to the checkout counter. 

“Ah, this is all, for me.” She said calmly, though there was a bit of gratitude in her voice as she spoke. “...this is a lovely shop you have!” She added earnestly. 

Dyne glared a bit, watching Frisk walk away wearily. She took her box and decided she didn’t need anything else, standing behind Frisk as she checked out. She remained silent though.

The shopkeeper smiled and nodded, ringing up the tea. “And I’m assuming you are paying with dollars?” She asked, doing a quick transition. “That will be $5.67. And thank you very much!” She offered her a soft smile.

She nodded, dealing out a ten dollar bill and sliding it across the counter. She could feel Dyne behind her and the woman’s presence burning into her back. 

“You can keep the change.” She said nervously, wanting to get out of here quickly. 

“Well, let me give you a cinnabunny for the road, then! Thank you” The shopkeeper said happily, already packing one up neatly and putting it into the bag with Frisk’s tea. “Enjoy the tea.” She gave her a wave as she started ringing in what Dyne was buying. Her gaze was still watching Frisk.

She smiled wide at that, thanking her for the bonus treat. She couldn't wait to try it - she'd never had food prepared by monsters before. She thanked the lady one last time before moving outside, sliding into her car and carefully opening the cinnabunny package. It smelled lovely. Against better judgment, she decided to eat it there in her car. 

The cinnabunny smelled like cinnamon and tasted like a cinnamon roll but sweeter. As soon as she swallowed though, it disappeared. It gave her health and nutrients just without any need to digest due to its magical properties (and why monsters ate that rather than human food). 

Dyne walked out of the store with the tea she had bought and she saw the human sitting in the car, eating the cinnabunny. She walked up and folded her arms, standing in view of her. “Hey punk, what is your deal? You’re a human, you don’t belong here. And don’t pull that stupid friendly bullshit on me because it won’t work. Human’s don’t do anything if it isn’t for their own gain.” She looked ready to fight.

Frisk found the food to be an absolute delight - she wondered if she could buy some more, sometime. It was tastier  _ and _ more efficient than human food. However, her happy meal time was abruptly cut short when Dyne followed her to her car and had stood outside, yelling at her. Or her equivalent of yelling. She looked ready to kick ass though.

“H-Honestly, I just wanted to get some so I can impress my boss...y-you’re right there, if you see that as pursuing my own personal gain.” She said nervously.

“I said it before. Humans don’t work for monsters.” Dyne huffed, folding her arms and her glare was unrelenting. “In fact, if you ARE working for monsters there has to be some other reason to it! Well, I won’t let you take advantage of our society!” >FIGHT<

Her SOUL was drawn out of her body - granted, to a limited degree - and she stared up at Dyne fearfully. That had never happened to her before - she had no idea what to do in regards to it. In her mind, she saw four options: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY. And it’s not like she had Toriel to tell her what the right way was.

But FIGHTing couldn’t be the right action, so she chose to talk instead.

“I just want to learn science!” She insisted, tugging herself out of her car so she would actually have a chance to dodge.

FIGHTing was the action Dyne was interested in, and magic blue spears materialized, targeting and aiming for Frisk’s SOUL. Her SOUL was in limited boundaries and the spears disappeared after passing the boundaries as to not cause property damage or anything. 

“You just want to see us suffer, like the rest of humanity!” Dyne retorted after her attack, waiting for Frisk’s move.

“Not at all!” She cried out, having narrowly dodged the spears. Thank god she actually took that gym course in college. It was actually doing her some good. “I don’t want that at all! I hope we can all live together in peace one day!” 

“Ngahhhh!” Dyne shouted in frustration, her spear attacks getting faster. “That won’t EVER happen!” She argued.

She got hit with quite a few - blood spattering.across the pavement. She was ready to talk again - not wanting to actually fight her due to her obligation to monsterkind now - but she was distracted by the little tiny blue nugget that had waddled out of the car behind Dyne and was posing like her mom.

“Ngahhhhh!” She cried, mimicking Dyne’s pose and holding a toy spear in her hand. “Dat won't nebbber happen!” Her teeth were starting to grow in - and poke out past her lips like cute, tiny little teefer fangs.

Dyne glanced down and had to try hard not to laugh because even she had to admit it was cute. Though, she also didn’t want her precious nugget to get hurt. She glared at Frisk and then looked to Undyne. “Be careful, Undyne… humans are dangerous.” She warned before attacking Frisk again with spears.

“Is okie I help!” After Dyne had finished throwing (and successfully hitting) Frisk with spears, she glowered at the human cutely. “I help momma win!” She yowled, throwing the toy spear at Frisk ferociously. Frisk, not wanting to be mean and just let it bounce off of her, pretended to fall to the  pavement, playing dead.

Undyne, noticing the peculiar phenomenon, walked over and poked Frisk, who did her best not to move.

“Momma! I did it! I kiwwed the human! Are you pwoud of me?” She danced excitedly, picking up her toy spear and waving it around wildly. 

Dyne was about to stop her child from doing so, worried the human might retaliate and hurt her precious nugget. She was surprised by the human’s response of playing along. She stared a bit at the human laying on the ground, playing dead. She knew that the other wasn’t actually dead but… she couldn’t bring herself to tell that to Undyne.

“I’m very proud of you, Undyne.” Dyne said with a smile, SPAREing Frisk before holding out her hand for toddler Undyne to take. “How about we go home and celebrate your victory, okay?” She led her child away, though she did shoot a glare back at Frisk.

Frisk remained absolutely still the entire time, though she thought it was cute. Undyne waddled away, glancing back at Frisk one last time, before getting into the car and her booster seat. Frisk waited until both mother and child were long gone before moving. By then a considerable amount of blood leaked on the pavement. She heaved herself up to her car, taking a few deep breaths to steady herself.

The shopkeeper had watched all of this, but didn’t interfere because there wasn’t a lot she could do to interfere. When Dyne and her daughter left though and Frisk started moving, she headed out of her shop with another cinnabunny and some bandages. She went to Frisk’s side and helped hold her up. “Come on, I’ll help you get patched up. Eat this, it’s on the house.” She offered Frisk the cinnabunny as she also helped move her inside of the shop.

She moved inside with the shopkeeper, taking another bite of the cinnabunny gratefully. She felt it return some strength to her - perhaps the lost blood that was out on the pavement - and moved to take a seat somewhere so the shopkeep could patch her up.

“Th-Thank you…” She said, albeit a bit shakily. That had really frightened her - she hadn’t done Dyne any wrong. However, she supposed it didn’t matter. Her whole species had done Dyne wrong, and she couldn’t blame her for her anger.

“Of course… I have some medical fixings so that you don’t keep bleeding everywhere.” She offered, seeing Frisk’s HP being fully restored after eating the cinnabunny. Once inside she started cleaning and putting bandages on the wounds.

When it was all done, she thanked the cinnabunny shopkeeper, doing her best not to cry from the sheer terror and pain she had just went through. She gave her a weak smile.

“Th-Thank you so much..I, I don’t...I don’t have anything to give you…” She stammered.

“Don’t worry about it, I can’t have dead humans laying around in front of my shop! Bad business.” The shopkeeper joked a little. “Besides, I make the cinnabunnies myself and I have extras.” She assured. She made sure Frisk made it safely to her car and watched her go. She’d have to call someone to get that blood cleaned up. Probably Woshua.

Frisk miserably made her way home and locked herself up in her room to mentally prepare for the coming day. That mostly meant about two hours of crying, drinking lots of water, and thinking about how she couldn’t go to the hospital for her injuries due to not wanting to be a tattle tale. Well, rather - wanting to not get in trouble with her boss.


	4. Starting with Repairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk learns new things and gets patched up by a proper doctor.

The next day she came in wearing her appropriate outfit that was required of her, hair up, glasses on, and whatnot - but her bandages were very much viewable through her clothing, no matter how hard she had tried to hide it. She wasn’t late, however - she was fifteen minutes early, despite wanting to stay home and sleep. 

In her hand, she had a to go coffee cup that had steaming hot golden flower tea in it, and she glanced around the lab, looking for Gaster.

Gaster had spent most of the day before planning out and drafting her schedule for when she would have to work. It remained the same days of the week for most of each month, minus the days that Gaster knew he would have to go and give presentations on his experiments, whether they were failures, successes or somewhere in between. He also accounted for the holidays that Frisk had requested off. It all fit together quite well and he was proud of it. He believed it would fit her schedule perfectly, along with his.  He had planned on going to the nearest shop to get more tea, but there had been minor… complications of sorts when the shopkeeper had mentioned a human coming in and buying the same item. He asked for the humans description and knew it was Frisk. Interesting. He decided not to buy any tea because of this. He wanted to see if she had bought it because she wanted to try it, or because he had mentioned it in the follow up conversation. 

The next day came and Gaster was already up and working on a chemical experiment around 7, and he saw Frisk arriving early. He noted the bandages and decided he would bring that up after he got her situated to the new workplace. He opened the door and signed, “Good Morning, Frisk. Come in.” He stepped aside and let her walk in. He went to one of the messier desks and handed her a folder that had the schedule in it. “This is your schedule, if you have conflicts on it, please inform me.” He signed after she took it.

She smiled at him and signed back, “Good morning, Dr. Gaster.” Before walking over to her desk and taking the schedule he had given her. She opened it up to browse over it, intending to skim but knowing she ought to take her time. After looking it over she nodded.

“Looks good to me.” She told him, tucking the schedule under her arm so she could hold the cup of hot liquid more comfortably 

Gaster nodded, impressed that she was able to short hand sign language fairly well while holding a cup in one hand. He nodded to the cup. “You may set that down if you like, I’ll show you around the lab.” He offered because that was definitely necessary for her to be able to work.

She set it down and then nodded, straightening up. 

“Ah! This tea is for you actually. I did try it myself but...it made me feel sick.” She signed, admittedly regrettably. 

“Oh? Well… thank you” Gaster smiled, taking the tea. He made a mental note to explore the properties of the golden flowers and why it may have affected her so. Perhaps there was a reason humans didn’t buy, sell, or brew the tea. 

Gaster casually summoned up an extra hand (usually used for his attacks) and had that hold the tea as he signed, walking Frisk around the lab. He pointed to a few drawers, explaining the various tools that would be found where and things like that. Most of the tables in the lab were in use for machines and devices, the drawers filled with tools and blueprints for the devices with the associated countertop. The tables that had all the paperwork were a mess and he signed, “That will probably be your job after I teach you a few things.” Knowing she would need to learn wing dings.

She looked around, taking note of everything, where it was, and what they were for. She had a feeling she would likely forget a few times but that was to be expected. After all, she was only human. 

“What do I get to learn?” She asked, when all was said and done. 

Gaster held up a hand to say one moment. He went to his personal desk, the really messy one in front of all the screens, and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. He wrote out the alphabet in wing dings, then under it in english. “Wing dings.” He signed simply. “Also, this is my desk only for my use.” His way of saying don’t touch anything on it. He took a sip of the tea and continued on, leading Frisk to a  door and opening it, showing where a kitchenette was. He had managed to get some human foods in there, since he wasn’t certain how compatible humans were with monster food. He’d have to do an experiment on that too, but perhaps further down the road. “You can get food here during breaks.” He signed simply.

She took the wing dings translator paper and made sure to hold onto it neatly. If she needed to sign she could tuck it under her arm. She understood quite perfectly that his desk was off limits and was okay with that. She didn't mind in the least.

As for the kitchenette she was impressed. At least there would be a functional place for her to eat. 

“Got it. It's nice.” She told him. She was more focused on absorbing information than having a chat. 

Gaster smiled slightly at the compliment and signed, “Thank you… I don’t really use it much, though I do have guests sometimes.” He decided not to elaborate on guests. The only other monsters he would have over sometimes were Dyne and Undyne, and every so often Asgore.

“Guests?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. That was interesting. “Will I get to meet them?” She asked hopefully.

“Perhaps.” Gaster shrugged. He honestly wasn’t sure because the visits from Dyne would be sporadic and unplanned, but he also knew that Frisk and her may not get along the best. Asgore would probably be fine in meeting her. “That’s it for most of the lab. Do you have any questions, or would you like to begin actually working?”

She hoped so. She’d like to meet other monsters - ones that didn’t want to kill her, hopefully. When he asked her what she wanted to do she signed, “I’d like to begin working,” because she wasn’t sure what questions she was supposed to have.

“Excellent. You can start with organizing the paperwork I have in english. Study the wing dings and you can do those later. If pages are stapled and in both, sort by the title.” He instructed, already walking out to one of the paper covered desks that had a filing cabinet under it. He would go back to the chemical experiments he had been doing before she had arrived.

She walked to the desk and took the papers he handed her, sitting down to begin to do her work. It was what she expected to do on her first day, anyway, so it wasn’t like she was going to be angry about it. She worked diligently, and without complaint - though, it was quiet. Very,  _ very _ quiet in the lab, what with her boss being deaf. She hummed to herself to keep herself from going too crazy from the silence.

Gaster had no issue with the silence, mainly because it was always silent to him, except for his own voice that was his thought process. It was sort of nice having another person in the lab. He couldn’t explain why but it just sort of was. He worked with his main hands, using conjured hands to take notes and then one to continue to hold the tea. When the experiment he was working on was done, he did look back to Frisk. He decided he should probably ask about the bandages. If she was going to come to work injured on a regular basis, he would need to know.

She was diligently working, though heavily favoring her left arm. Whether or not it was technically “healed” it still fucking hurt. She was sitting at an angle to accommodate her cuts on her abdomen, and as for her thigh it wasn’t too bad - she didn’t have to walk a lot.

Gaster approached the table, knocking on the wood surface to get her attention, seeing that she was immersed in her work (which he was quite happy about).

She jerked and looked up at him when he knocked on the table, blinking her pretty blue eyes up at him.

“Yes?” She signed.

Gaster shook his head, smiling. “You’re supposed to say, “who’s there?”” 

“Oh, who’s there?” She smiled, wondering what kind of joke he had for her.

“Pane.” Gaster signed, signing it as if it were the glass part of a window.

“Pane who?” She tilted her head.

“Are you in pane?” He asked, then nodded to the bandages she had on, and the fact she was leaning a bit to one side to favor the uninjured parts of her.

She blinked before realizing he was making a pun - and also asking her about her injuries, which she wasn’t doing so great to hide. She cringed, before glancing down.   
“Ah, yeah….I am, actually. Sorry, I probably should have told you - there was an incident yesterday, when I went to get the tea…” She signed, hoping he wouldn’t press her for details.

He frowned slightly, reading her hands and he gave her a nod. He wouldn’t ask for further details. “You haven’t seen a doctor. Good thing you work for me. Come on, let’s get you patched up.” He instructed, already heading to one of the tables that was kept very sterile and had medical equipment in the drawers. It also had a removable top that would reveal a drain for any excess blood, but that wouldn’t be needed in this case.

She walked after him, her limp being more noticeable as she walked. She slid onto the table, shrugging off her jacket and glancing up at him. To be honest, she knew she ought not to be, but she felt awkward taking off parts of her clothes in front of her boss. Even if he was a doctor. This whole thing, really….they had been quite unprofessional with each other many times. And yet for the most part it had been enjoyable. Save for this last bit. 

She started with her abdomen, peeling back her shirt to show an already blood-stained bandage. Considering the cinnabunny lady didn't stitch it up and she needed stitches… Yeah. Movement had easily opened up her wound again. 

Gaster did notice the limp, but decided to let the patient show him the wounds at her own pace. He wouldn’t push it, seeing as she was his employee, not an experiment. He took medical scissors and cut away the bloodied bandage. He took disinfectant and cleaned it again, then looked to Frisk. “You’ll need stitches.” He signed simply, already getting the needle and thread. He gently pressed his cool boney fingers to her skin along with the needle and carefully started stitching. When it was done being stitched, he snipped the thread and then rewrapped the wound.

“Next injury?” He inquired, knowing there was more than just her side that had been injured. He made a mental note to talk to Dyne and ask her to please not injure his intern. They weren’t exactly at an easy disposal, seeing as he only had one.

She just grit her teeth as it was done, and when it was done she lowered her shirt. She took off part of her shirt by pulling her arm out of the sleeve and letting it fall to her side, and looked at him. Again, a bloody bandage - though just as dark crimson as the last. 

Gaster took her arm, doing the same thing of cutting away the bandages and then shaking his head. “More stitches.” He informed, carefully sewing that wound up too after cleaning it. He really would have to tell Dyne to chill the fuck out.

She thanked him once more before regrettably tugging her skirt down to show off the last wound  - the deepest one - on her thigh. She also gave him a pretty nice view of her underwear - not that it mattered - and they were black.

Gaster had to kneel a bit to get a better look at the wound. He pointedly kept his eyes on that and not said black underwear. He was a professional, after all. He again removed the wraps, disinfected, and started stitching again, though one hand was resting on her thigh. Not that that mattered but still.

This was strictly just to heal her and not for any perverted reasons, so she had no reason to doubt his integrity as he worked. Besides, she was trying not to focus on the pain of such a deep wound being stitched up. Instead she looked up at the ceiling, silently thinking of anything else to distract her. And definitely not thinking about that hand on her thigh - it was just to steady himself. That’s what it was.

Gaster finished up the stitches on her leg and stood up, setting the tools aside. “Is that all?” He asked, making sure that he was able to fix all that he could. He couldn’t have a badly injured employee after all. “Also, does it hurt? I have pain killers.”

“That’s it.” She said, tugging her skirt back up and sighing. With the stitches in place, though they stung she knew it would feel better and heal properly. “Painkillers would be great, thank you…” She signed, hesitant to leave the table - though she knew she had to, to work.

Gaster pulled out some pain killers and handed them to her. “I’ll get you water to take those with.” He signed before walking to the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. He brought it back to her and looked a bit concerned honestly. “Do try not to make this a habit.”

She laughed a little at that, taking the water and the pills. When she was done, she set them aside to sign back, “I don’t have plans to make being stabbed with magical spears a habit.” She tried to be amusing, before, worried that she would offend him, she added, “So I’ll make sure to try not to get hurt by anything else, too.”

Gaster took that statement as a good enough and he nodded. He offered her his hand to help her get down from the table, and also was conveniently on the side of her that had the injured leg, should she need support. he conjured up an extra hand to still sign normally. “Good to know. If it does happen, do contact me so that I can fix you up.”

She took his hand gratefully, sliding off the table and finding her leg to be numb more than anything else. She slowly made her way to the desk before she was able to sign back to him properly.

“I’ll make sure to, should the need arise.” She said calmly.

He helped her to her desk and nodded. “The stitches shouldn’t get infected, but if they itch, tell me.” He knew some humans had skin allergies to the strangest things. He wasn’t sure if she had any, and her medical records had just said ‘no known allergies’. Gaster decided that was a good way to end a conversation after that scenario and went back to his personal desk to write up his findings in a more organized way from the chemical experiments and the notes his conjured hands had taken.

She went to work once more, finding it easier to organize now that she wasn’t seeping blood everywhere, and whatever his painkillers were did a world better than human painkillers. She’d have to invest in them, she decided. It shouldn’t be too hard - though she was wary of going back to that store, friendly shopkeep or not.   
Around noon she stood up, taking her lunch break and moving to the kitchen to see what sort of food he had to offer. She found basics - stuff to make sandwiches, a few things of ramen to heat up, and a few various drinks - as nonperishable as they could be. Shrugging, she got herself some instant noodles and some soda and sat down at the table to eat.

The few things that could be considered odd was the cookies that were in the shape of small fish. If sniffed, it also smelled like fish, but for some reason was a cookie. He had a few extra mugs for tea in the cupboard. In the fridge, if anyone looked, there were leftovers of pasta, hot dogs, and other various foods giving the obvious hint that he lived in the lab (which he did), or at least spent most of his time there.

Gaster was immersed in his work, as he usually was. He had sat down at his desk and really hadn’t moved at all after, writing a lot of things mainly because he had to do a full report and presentation on his findings. It was what he was paid to do after all, and he was in the mindset of not doing anything else until he was done.

She ate alone, then, and she didn’t mind it too much. She could play around on her phone a little, listen to music, and then go back to work. It was tedious work, but she could quietly listen to music while she worked as long as her phone was in her pocket, and she didn’t mind at all. She glanced over at Gaster as he worked but shrugged and continued work. 

Gaster didn’t move for really the rest of the day. The amount of notes he took sometimes could be considered obscene. He would sometimes move to go back to where he had done the chemical experiment and see if anything had changed and took some more notes over that. The tea that Frisk had brought him was finished but he didn’t bother asking her for more, or getting up to make more. It would distract from his work, after all. 

Finally, the end of the day came. Gaster was punctual at all things if it involved anyone else. If he were by himself in the lab, he would stay up nights on end working nonstop until the job was done. With Frisk as his lab assistant though, he would keep an accurate time schedule. He stood up when it was time for Frisk to go to both walk over and check in on her, make sure she didn’t have any questions, and to show her to the door.

He went over to the desk she was at and gave her a smile, signing “The work hour is over, and you are free to leave. Do you have any questions? Also, do try and memorize the key.” 

She glanced up at him, rising to her feet and closing the folder that held the key. She gave him a smile, signing back to him, “No, I don’t have any questions, though I may have some questions tomorrow after thinking on things. I will do my best to memorize the key.”

 

Truth be told, she was already starting to get the hang of it. It was different than learning a new language - it was easy to just learn how to read signs as letters. Or maybe that’s because the writer of this paragraph learned how to interpret signs as letters, and it came rather easy to her. Either way, she was catching on rather quickly. She was rather glad he didn’t hear her quietly jamming out to music. It had honestly made the work day easier.

She gathered up her belongings, looking up at him before moving towards the door, not sure what else to say to her boss. The work had been easy, if not monotonous, save for the whole translating a key thing, so there wasn’t much that could be said. She gave a soft sigh and looked back to him.

“I will see you tomorrow?” She signed. 

Gaster nodded, signing back. “Same time as today. Please tell me if your injuries act up at all, also.” 

With that, the two of them parted ways, sort of. Gaster just went back inside the lab to stack up the papers he had been doing, and check Frisk’s work. It was perfectly done and he gave a nod of appreciation to no one in particular. He proceeded to go to his room and unwind by reading and having another cup of the golden flower tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support we continue to get! It means so much to us. :D


	5. For The Sake of Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster receives a visitor and is proposed drastic measures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long delay! Isolato had a hand injury, and crow was on vacation ^^" We are back now!

The week continued to be basically the same thing; the two of them working in the lab, Frisk doing the organizing and paperwork and such, while Gaster worked on some experiments and created more paperwork. It was a smooth cycle and Gaster so far had found no flaws in her work. He was also impressed with how quickly she was learning wing dings, seeing that as a good sign. 

Friday came around and Gaster was surprisingly, on his phone texting someone. He set down the phone and looked to Frisk, signing, “We will be having guests this afternoon. You may talk with them, or sign to them. One doesn’t know sign language completely, but the other can translate.” He informed.

“Guests?” She ended up asking out loud, but quickly realized her mouth and signed her question instead. She was rather excited - what interesting monsters would Frisk get to meet? Her head swam at all the ideas, but she quickly cleared it and smiled.

“I look forward to it.” She signed. “I will try to get work done quickly so it won’t inconvenience you.” She added at the end of it, wondering what sort of guests Gaster had.

Gaster saw he speak, and of course knew how to read lips. He was thankful though that she still signed it. It showed that she was devoted to speaking in his tongue, or lack thereof. He gave a bit of a nod.

“Excellent. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you, so it is acceptable to break from work while they are here.” He signed smiling. Gaster wasn’t an asshole when it came to social settings (just moral ones). He had made sure to speak with one of the guests about courtesy and to NOT spear his employee. “They’ll be here at 3.” He signed and then went to go back to work.

The rest of the morning came and went, work as usual, if not at a bit faster pace since there would be an inevitable interruption of guests coming over. Three came around and Gaster was already at the door, thankful that he had the security cameras to give him fair warning of when Dyne and Undyne would be visiting.

He opened the door and gave a polite smile as a familiar face beamed at him. “Gaster!” She said happily, knowing full well he knew what she was saying. She pulled him into a tight hug, literally picking him up a bit. Gaster hugged back as best he could and patted her shoulder. She let him down and signed, “Thanks for having us over. Undyne’s been talking about it the whole time back from school.” She laughed.

Gaster smiled and stepped aside, signing, “Please, come in. Also, Dyne. This is Frisk.” He gestured to Frisk. “I’m aware you two know each other. Frisk, Dyne has promised not to spear you.”

“Begrudgingly so, punk.” Undyne grumbled a bit. Gaster shot her a look and she huffed. “Whatever, sorry I guess.” 

Gaster shook his head and nodded to the young fish monster. “Frisk, that’s Undyne, Dyne’s daughter.”

Frisk was surprised when she saw who was actually at the door. Dyne? At least her daughter was adorable as all hell. Maybe Frisk would be able to get away with taking a break from work to converse with the teeny fish baby. 

Undyne smiled wide - mimicking her mother - when she saw Frisk. 

“Human!” She roared in her teeny toddler voice, throwing her hands up and “tackling” Frisk - it meant that she threw herself at the human’s thighs and ‘rawr’ed very, very ferociously (and adorably).

“Oh! Hello...um, Undyne!” Frisk said cheerfully, grateful she could actually use her voice for once. She glanced up at Dyne, wanting to make sure the angry fish woman wouldn’t destroy her because her tiny womb nugget was flailing onto Frisk’s thigh.

Gaster chuckled softly, the noise barely heard. Dyne on the other hand was on a mix of concern and laughter because of her daughter. She gave Frisk a weary look. “Undyne, the human’s name is Frisk.” She gave her a grin. “Always know your enemies.”

Dyne looked to Gaster and signed, “We need to talk privately.” Gaster gave a somber nod. He waved her along, signing. “Frisk, could you keep an eye on Undyne? We need to talk.” He signed. Dyne looked skeptical. “If she gets hurt at all, you’ll be meeting my spear again, punk.” He huffed towards Frisk. Gaster gave Dyne a look that told her to hush. She did and they headed to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry! If anything, I’ll be the one getting hurt. Isn’t that right little Undyne?” She laughed softly, looking back down at Undyne, who was grinning wide. She grabbed Frisk’s fingers and dragged her out into the dining area, wanting cookies.

“Where are the cookies?” She asked, peering into cabinets. Not wanting the little one to get hurt, Frisk quickly picked her up and set her away.

“Um...let me find them, okay?” She asked.

Gaster glanced at the two, thinking he had been quite obvious in that the two wanted to be alone to talk but the two had ended up following. Dyne spared a glance to Gaster and walked over to Frisk and Undyne.

“They’re right up here, punk.” She opened a cabinet that was the highest up. It was up there so mainly the young Undyne couldn’t reach them and help herself. She passed them to Frisk. “Don’t let her eat too many. She still has dinner later.” She leaned down to give Undyne a kiss on the cheek. “Why don’t you tell the human about your day at school, hm?” She offered, kindly leading them out of the kitchen.

Gaster internally thanked whatever deity or deities in existence for Dyne handling the situation. He wasn’t good with kids.

 

As soon as the two were out, Dyne shut the door and proceeded to sign to Gaster and inform him of the rising tension between humans and monsters.

“It’s the humans.” Dyne signed seriously. The moment the human had left, her entire demeanor had gone from slightly aggressive to slightly aggressive and serious. She had reason to worry - she had heard those snide comments, those conversations whispered when humans thought no one was actually listening. “They don’t like us - no, you already know that. It’s getting worse.” 

Gaster looked to her, reading her hands and he shook his head. “Dyne. I’m not going to be part of this revolution you think is going to happen.” He signed, trying to remind her of that. “It is… complicated with humans, but that is not a reason to fight them.”

“It’s  _ going _ to happen, Gaster! Do you really think they’re just going to magically respect us one day? No!  They hate us! They’re disgusted by us!” Her signs were getting more angry and urgent - it would take only someone like Gaster, who knew her, to interpret her otherwise erratic motions. “ _ You _ are the scientist! It’s time you actually do something useful besides play with chemicals.”

“I don’t just play with chemicals.” Gaster signed his own hands getting slightly upset. “Dyne. I know there are tensions between the two species. I know that humans despise monsterkind, but that is no reason for us to despise them. We have to be the better of the two.” At least, that’s what Gaster told himself whenever he found himself getting wound up about the tensions.

“There’s no being the better of the two if they start killing!” She snapped, almost yelling but stopping herself, instead signing it urgently. “You know as well as I how easily they can kill us. Do you want that to happen?” 

Gaster shook his head, his signs getting frustrated. “I don’t want that to happen, no. That doesn’t mean I’m going to fight humans for the sake of the fact they  _ might  _ kill at some point. Besides, I’m not a fighter.” He shook his head, letting his final statement give the hint that he wouldn’t fight even if humans were killing.

“If you don’t fight, then I will.” She would fight, regardless - but she had hoped for Gaster’s support in all of this. “I’m not going to let them hurt the people I care about. Are you?” She straightened up a little, her mind already working over how she could convince him to do  _ something _ .

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” Gaster signed angrily, trying to get the message to her that he cared for her. “No fighting the humans, Dyne. Let them talk about us when they think they are alone. It does not affect us in anyway whatsoever until they kill. And.. when they kill, there are other ways to deal with it other than fighting.”

“And what exactly are your plans to “deal with it” when they start killing, huh?” She asked, not letting him get off so easy. “Sit in your lab all day, mixing chemicals with your  _ human _ lab assistant? You must be joking. What the hell made you think  _ that _ was a good idea, anyway?”

“There is a legal system for a reason, Dyne.” Gaster signed back with a huff. “And as to why I have a lab assistant who is human is that she just so happened to exist in that way. I don’t care about species, and she has potential.”

“She could easily be a traitor to you! Have you even thought about that?” Dyne asked. “Do you honestly think a human would want to work for one of us?”

“Do you honestly think every human is as bad as you think they are?” Gaster signed, slightly getting irked and in her face about this. “She is here to learn science. How could she even be a traitor? There is nothing to give away, seeing as all I do is ‘play with chemicals’”

“You’re the Royal Scientist. Did you forget that?” Dyne didn’t relent, getting in his face about this as well. “I don’t trust them because unlike you, I have more than just book smarts!”

“Yes, I am. I have more than just book smarts, I just don’t have magic spears to throw at people whenever I care to.” He signed sarcastically. He shook his head. “She isn’t some traitor.”

“Well at least  _ I’m _ doing something to protect our kind! What have  _ you _ done, besides lock yourself up in this building and play chemistry with a human?” 

“You signed it yourself, Dyne. I’m the royal scientist. That is how I help monster kind, and that is how I plan to continue to help monster kind. If you would simply let me do my job”

“Then just consider it another one of your experiments.” She tried to convince him. “It would be easy - and you said it yourself. If she’s not a traitor to you then she  _ must _ be loyal, right? Why not have her prove it?” 

“I’m not having my lab assistant ‘prove’ to me her loyalty. She is a co worker, who happens to be human, and that is all. Not an experiment.” He picked up on what she could be suggesting and he refused.

“If you won’t, then someone else will.” She signed calmly, straightening up. “I guarantee it - someone will find out she’s working for you, and it’s only a matter of time before they suggest it. If you get her on our side early; she could be a good weapon.”

“Get her on our side? I am not against humans, nor am I against monsters. There is no side to take, and she is not a weapon. Will you stop blowing this out of the water?!”

“There’s a war coming, whether or not you like it, Wing Dings Gaster.” If he wouldn’t take sides and do what was necessary for their kind, then she would take matters into her own hands. “If not for yourself, do it for the sake of monsters.” 

“I told you, she is my intern, not some-” Gaster stopped, seeing Frisk walking into the room and waving to get his attention. He was almost thankful for the distraction, honestly. “What is it, Frisk?” Gaster had the feeling that this would not be the end of Dyne and his discussion, and he knew deep down that she was right. Except, he wasn’t going to accept that just quite yet.

 

~Frisk

She gave Gaster an apologetic look and took the cookies, guiding Undyne out to sit in a small lounge-like area, giving her a cookie.   
“So, Undyne! What do you like doing?” She wasn’t good with conversing with kids, in the least. But she was trying, for Gaster’s sake.

“Hmm…..Battling meanies! Like my mom!” Undyne gave her another huge grin. Frisk laughed a little, setting the cookie tin on her lap.

“Oh? Well, you really killed me last time we met!” 

“I know! I killed you so dead!” Undyne said cutely (and fiercely).

The two spoke for a bit, played, and hung out pretty lowkey as Frisk told Undyne about being a human and Undyne talked about her very interesting toddler life, but she finally decided to check in on Gaster and Dyne - it was past seven and it was her time to go home, and while she wasn’t against working overtime she wanted to see what was taking so long.

Aggressive hand motions were what she saw. It was honestly a bit humorous - she had to fight not to laugh, but she also wanted to know what they were talking about. Even if it wasn’t her business. She waved her hand a little, trying to get Gaster’s attention.

It was honestly crazy to walk into. At a glance it was more of a flurry of blue hands and white ones signing aggressively. Their faces were both in that of frustration and intensity and also quite close together. 

The blue hands were signing, “Do it for the sake of monsters!”

The white ones signing back just as aggressively, “I told you, she is my intern, not some-” He stopped in mid sign, seeing Frisk waving. He stood up straight and signed after a moment, “What is it, Frisk?”

Dyne read his hands and turned around, glaring at her, not talking because Gaster had talked to her first. Her glare said it all anyway.

“I was just checking in on things….it’s half past seven.” She explained. “I don’t mind staying to keep an eye on Undyne, I just wanted to...y’know. Clear things up with you.” She signed. She shrunk away from Dyne’s glare - not even sure what she was glaring at or why she was glaring at Frisk.

Gaster nodded after giving Dyne a look that said calm the fuck down, but Dyne didn’t really notice. He shook his head. “My apologies, Frisk.” He signed. He walked over to Dyne, signing “It’s getting late, perhaps you and Undyne should get going.”  He looked back to Frisk. “Thank you for staying overtime, and have a good weekend.” He offered her a smile.

Frisk smiled at him, feeling a bit comforted in his presence. He had that effect - after her first day on the job, she had always felt at ease around him.    
“Thank you, Gaster. You have a good weekend, too!” She turned and headed for the door, yawning only when her head was turned away. She was exhausted from having to watch a kid for so long - that definitely wasn’t in the job description.


	6. Chapter 6; Heating Things Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little too hot to handle when Frisk gets her hands on her first experiment with Gaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Can you believe it's actually been a full TWO YEARS since this fic was updated? Sparrow and I were prepared to lay this to rest, but a recent kind comment made us both decide to take a second look at it, and, once we've read it, we decided we should actually revive it.
> 
> We want to say thank you to every single person who's given us kudos, comments, and bookmarks on this fic, despite it being pretty much dead for two whole years. You guys really love this fic, and we do, too, so the two of us will be working on it! 
> 
> A quick life update on the co-authors; Crow and I started dating on April 18th, 2016, and recently got engaged on December 25th, 2017! The two of us live together now, as well!  
> Anyway we hope you all enjoy our work!  
> This Chapter was already written up, but it wasn't actually posted, for some reason. So starting NEXT chapter, it'll be all brand new writing!

After a while, paperwork could only go so far - and eventually, she was able to finally shadow him on his work. Or at least, whatever he let her do, anyway. She was hoping for something interesting as their first thing to do. Would it be astronomy? Chemistry? Physics? Engineering? She could only wonder as she approached him to let him know all the paperwork was done.

Gaster was presently sat at his desk, going through emails. He had a few commissions for experiments to work on, but none really seemed to peak his interest too much. He was considering a few possibilities when he noticed Frisk approaching. He could tell from the desks and their lack of paperwork scattered on them that she was done with that task. He gave her a smile as she approached.

Gaster stood up and signed, “Good work” before she could sign him anything. Now that she would be shadowing him and helping him with his experiments, a few of the commissions suddenly became a good idea to work on. He had the urge to impress the other, and he had to admit, the look of interest that sparked in her eyes was quite captivating. He wanted to see more of it. For science.

“We have work to do.” He signed, already striding over to a work table. He started pulling out various chemicals he figured might work. “Seeing as you have skin, you’ll need gloves for this experiment. You know where they are.” He informed.

She nodded, turning on her heel and grabbing gloves and safety goggles. She put them on, returning to him as she was teeming (internally) with excitement for what was to come. They would be playing with chemicals for their first experiment? That was awesome. Every other time she had been in a lab, they had to play it safe very early on, and only got to the good stuff near the end of the semester.

“What are we going to do today?” She signed, once she had returned in her safety gear.

“We are going to be getting hot in here.” Gaster signed with a hint of a smirk, looking to her. He then decided to focus as best he could on the work that needed to be done. “As you know, monsters come in many forms. One of which are fire elementals. We are going to be making wood and wood products not flammable to fire magic.” he explained. “We’ll be starting off our experiments on paper.” He pulled out a ream of paper because he had no clue how many they’d burn through. Literally.

“We can experiment first with normal fire, though I may call in an… acquaintance so that we can have proper elemental flames to test with later.” He pulled out a sheet of paper and rolled it into a sort of cone so that it could hold fluids if it had to. “This will also be a test for you. What do you think, of these chemicals, would be a good combination for making something fireproof?”

She glanced over them, looking at the labels. There were a few chemicals she didn’t entirely recognize - they were foreign to her. Perhaps they didn’t teach about them in her classes. She felt embarrassment flood through her as she asked about them. However, she had her eye on the chemicals that had Br in them - that is to say, Bromine. A common flame retardant.

“I don’t know what those are.” She signed, pointing to the chemicals she didn’t know. “However, I can assume that many of the compounds that include bromine may be a good choice.”

Gaster nodded, smiling a bit. Good, she knew her basics. He picked up some of the chemicals that she said she didn’t know. “These are probably lesser known to humans, they are more commonly found in ashes, dog residue, and our magic.” He didn’t want to elaborate on any of the above, or how he knew it. “As a test run, using the statement you just made, lets use any chemical that is listed that has Bromine in it, shall we?” He signed using the conjured hands, setting the bottles that had any part of Bromine in it seperate from the other chemicals. “I’ll let you apply the chemicals to the paper. I’ll light it hopefully not on fire after.” He then handed her the rolled cone of paper. He had twisted the tip of the cone up so that is any fluids were poured in, it would not drip. He also planned on perhaps using that as a fuse.

She  took out a dropper, dripping the chemical all across the paper, letting it soak in. She was being delicate with her work - she wasn’t sure if the chemicals would burn her. Luckily, they weren’t corroding the paper, either, so it looked like a go. When she was done preparing it, she set it up like he wanted, and stepped to the side a little so he could do what he needed.

Gaster nodded a bit at her process and then took the paper from her. He turned on a bunsen burner and waved the treated paper over it to see if it would catch flame. The edges where chemicals hadn’t been put on, or the places where not enough chemicals were burnt catching flame, then dying down when reaching the parts with the retardant on it. Gaster moved the paper away from the flames and the flames went out. He examined the parts that didn’t get set on fire looking at it. The paper was browned slightly from the heat but hadn’t completely lit up. He nodded a bit to himself as he made some notes with his conjured hands.

“I’m going to be adding these two chemicals, commonly found in monster’s ash, to see if that will prevent discoloration.” He signed to explain to Frisk. “also, next sheet, use less drops of this” he lifted a bottle, then pointed to another. “And use a little more of this. It may help the saturation.”

He handed her another paper for her to prepare as he had to mix one of the unknown chemicals with a solvent so that it would be stabilized a bit more.

She did as he requested, preparing the material to be used, putting on the chemicals that he requested and then, when he had finished mixing the unknown chemicals with the solvent, she put them on the paper as well, all as he had requested. Reygan isn’t good at reading directions like this in roleplays, but she can assure you her character is following the directions perfectly.

When all was said and done, she signed to him, letting him know the paper was prepared.

Gaster gave an approving nod and took the treated paper again, putting it over the bunsen burner’s flames. It had a similar reaction to the first, but with less browning, and less burnt edges. He smiled a bit. It seemed to be fine for man made fires. The next step was to both saturate wood with it, and then also test it against monster made fires. He gave a nod to himself and he turned to Frisk.

“You know where the storage is. There should be scrap wood blocks in there. Please retrieve a few, along with a brush.” He signed, after which, he turned to quickly adjust the proportions of the chemicals needed, and then convert it to how much of each he’d need to soak the wood in it. Gaster was certain to make clear markings for his calculations, knowing he would have Frisk look over it later. He was started to pour the now calculated amount of chemicals into a container that would be able to hold a wood block.

Frisk did as he asked, moving to the storage and lifting up the wood block. To be honest - she hoped the test worked, not because she necessarily genuinely wanted it’s success, but because she looked forward to meeting a Flame elemental. She wondered, as she took out a sufficient block of wood, if there were other types of elementals. Water, air, earth? She supposed the last could be considered a golem, but nonetheless.

She returned to him, setting it on the counter and waiting for his okay to put it into the container.

Gaster finished the measurements and pouring and he nodded for it to be set in. After it was set, Gaster picked up the container and set it on a shelf under that work table so there would be less light to affect anything. He gave Frisk his calculations, signing how it had to be heavier saturated because monster made fire was hotter than gas fire.

The rest of that work day went by uneventfully, and they had their sort of routine before leaving. Gaster would stand up and go to Frisk, ask if she had any questions, then show her out. They would each go to their respective places and simple mundane things would happen. Gaster did get in contact with a young flame elemental for him to be there at noon the next day.

 

The next day, Gaster greeted Frisk at the door getting it before she could knock. Knocking was pointless when deaf anyways. He was more than a little excited to finish this experiment. Yes, it was a good thing to complete and then distribute to plenty of monsterkind, but also the fact that it let his lab assistant see a bit more into the monster world. He got out the block of wood, and showed Frisk how to check the chemical saturation of it. Gaster decided it needed to sit for another hour and so they went about other tasks for that hour, which conveniently put them at noon. He looked at the cameras, seeing no flame elemental walking up to the door. He checked his phone. Noon. Late, of course. He probably should have expected that.

“Frisk, listen for the door. We’ll be having a visitor to help with the test.” He signed, going back to doing some writings about the test they were doing.

She could tell by his immediate answering that he was excited for their experiment, and that put a smile on her face. She was glad that she wasn’t the only one of the two that was excited. When he informed her that they would finally have a visitor, she was more than happy to listen for the door, and she nodded.  
“Of course, Gaster.” She signed, feeling a little more comfortable around him. Something about his more excited demeanor made her feel comfortable to be a little more relaxed around him. She finished her tests, writing down all the information he needed to know - in Wingdings, of course. As she worked, she was listening intently - and she nearly jumped when she finally heard a knock at the door.   
She signed to Gaster that the visitor must be there, and she wasn’t sure if he wanted to answer or if he wanted her to answer, so she walked in that general direction nonetheless.

Gaster glanced at her singing, nodding already before she could finish. He had his display that was usually on the large screens in front of his desk minimized onto his laptop. He wanted this to be a bit of a surprise to Frisk so he had seen the invited guest coming earlier.

“Go ahead and answer it.” He signed, finishing a notation and then standing up to walk to the door, a casual stroll, knowing that Frisk would get there first anyway.

The fire elemental stood, leaning in the doorway with a cigarette between his firey lips and had the entire outfit of a greaser. Tight fitting white T shirt, black leather jacket and dark denim. He did wear gloves though, and rather than greased back hair, he just had flames, seeing as he was made of fire. He wore dark aviator shades and he smiled a bit, looking at Frisk when she answered.

“And they say I’m smoking hot~” He purred, his voice having a crackling hiss noise that fire made when fed wood that wasn’t quite dead yet.

She stared at him for a few moments. To say the least - he was HOT, and not just because he was a fire elemental. No, he was um...he was attractive. And he was just fire. She may or may not have had a five second fantasy about him taking that shirt off before she cleared her mind and gave him a shy smile - or tried to, anyhow. It failed miserably when he flirted with her, and she was turned into a blushing mess.

“Oh, um...Hello.” She said. She momentarily forgot that she was Gaster’s intern and instead could only really focus on how to properly answer him.

He smirked at her blush and stammered greeting. He dropped the cigarette, putting it out with his heel. He held out a gloved hand. “The name’s Grillby~” He gave her hand a warm handshake. Literally and figuratively.

Gaster walked up behind Frisk and signed, “Behave yourself, Grillby. This is an experiment, not a dive.” Grillby just gave Gaster a grin.

“Frisk.” She said quietly, taking his hand and giving it a shake. She pulled away when her boss came up behind her, and she blushed, regaining composure as best she could. She didn’t want him knowing she was getting so flustered talking with the fire elemental. How...how unprofessional.

“A pleasure~” Grillby hummed. Gaster stepped aside so both Frisk could come back in, and so that grillby could enter. Gaster shut the door behind them, about to lead Grillby to the wood that would hopefully be fire proof.

Grillby of course, decided to continue to flirt. He started to take off his jacket (mainly to show off his toned arms and the tightness of his shirt). “Is it hot in here, or is it just me~?” He smirked a bit, looking towards Frisk.

Conjured hands pulled Grillby’s jacket back on. “The wood may be fireproof, but my lab is not.” He signed, giving Grillby a stern look.

She managed to get a look of those toned muscles before she glanced back at her boss, forcing her eyes to try to stay on him. Not on the hot elemental. Not on the hot elemental. Not on the -

She glanced back at him. Fuck. With the jacket partially on he still looked hot. She internally huffed, but didn’t answer his rhetorical question of why the lab was hot.  
“Shall I get the wood out?” She signed to Gaster.

Grillby saw the perfect opportunity to both irk off Gaster and to flirt with Frisk. It was a win win. “You can get my wood out anytime you want, babe.” He did the cliche finger guns thing.

Gaster, knowing how much of a flirt Grillby would be, was keeping an eye on him the whole time and he read his lips. He was very good at doing so, even when the other had very hard to identify lips. He gave Grillby a glare, but decided to ignore him for the time being.

“Yes please Frisk.” He signed, then looking to Grillby. “Sit down, and only touch what I tell you to.” Grillby was about to give him finger guns for saying that, but the look Gaster gave in return made him put his hands down.

“Chill, Dings.” He huffed. “Even though I know you can’t, what with me being around and all.” He smirked a bit.

She turned scarlet when Grillby said that, and she immediately moved to get the wood - bending down to do so. She didn’t mean to, but well...she kind of had to. Still, god. That was such a good fucking flirt, she was having trouble coming up with what to say. She set the wood out for Grillby and Gaster, taking observational notes on the paper, glancing back at Grillby and Gaster when she was done.  
“The notes are done being taken.” She signed, albeit a bit shakily - she was having trouble keeping her cool while she had to deal with Grillby.

Grillby rather obviously checked her out when she bent down. Gaster gave him another look that said that the day would end in murder if Grillby kept it up. He smirked back and gave a shrug. Gaster rolled his eyes.

Gaster looked to frisk and nodded. “Excellent.” He signed. He shrugged off his labcoat, just in his cable knit turtleneck and he pushed up the sleeves to the elbows. For a skeleton, he looked quite fit under the clothing. He took the wood from Frisk and he handed it to Grillby.

“Focus on trying to burn that.” Gaster instructed Grillby, adjusting his glasses then taking his own notes and also looking at a stopwatch to time it if the wood did end up burning.

Grillby nodded, taking off his glove to show his firey hand. He held the wood and focused on putting more heat to his hand, flame sort of shooting up from it as concentrated fire magic engulfed the chunk of wood. Gaster quickly signed, “Try to keep it engulfed for a minute.” Grillby nodded a bit, acting like it was nothing, even though it was taking a bit of concentration.

Oh god. Her boss was even more attractive out of that labcoat. Who knew a skeleton could rock a sweater like he could? Certainly not her. She had to take another shaky moment to compose herself before watching Grillby try to burst their wood into flames. They had prepared other samples in well - in case this one lit up in flames. It had been her suggestion - so he didnt have to come all this way to test just one sample.

It was interesting to watch - however, she had to note that his fire was _very_ hot, and not in the aesthetic way. She backed up a few paces, feeling uncomfortably warm.

Grillby was too focused on trying to combust the treated wood to really notice Frisk backing up a bit. Gaster stayed where he was, watching the stopwatch. He did notice Frisk stepping back though, and he mused just how much heat a human could handle. Of course, he wouldn’t test that with Frisk.

A minute passed and Gaster held up his hand for Grillby to stop. The flames died down immediately, going back to the normal flickering that was the fire of his hands. In his palm was the piece of wood. It was burnt black on the edges. Grillby knew Gaster would want to see it from more angles so he moved it around in his hand a bit. The part of the wood that had been resting in Grillby’s hand was burnt completely.

Grillby smirked a bit. “Guess I’m too hot to handle.” He hummed, the smirk mainly directed at Frisk. Gaster shook his head in disbelief. He considered possible chemicals to use. He decided to consult Frisk. He looked at her and signed, “What do you think, Frisk?” Both for her opinion, and to make sure she was still paying attention to the task at hand.

“Well, I thought perhaps we could try the wood with the brominated solution soaked in - with the sealant on the top?” She suggested, pulling the board out to offer. She was indeed still paying attention to the task at hand - definitely not the two hotties next to her. She could be professional. To a degree.

Gaster nodded, deciding that would be a good plan of action. Gaster took the board and looked over it, making sure none of the sealant had come off. He nodded a bit and handed it back to Grillby. The fire elemental took it and did the same thing as he had done for the first chunk of wood. He concentrated more on the flames than he had to the first time, purposely trying to make them as hot as he could, the flames licking white even. The only real reaction Gaster had to that was rolling up his sleeves a bit more.

Gaster watched the stopwatch and finally called time, Grillby’s flames going back to normal yet again.

It had worked - the wood was unscathed, unburnt, unscalded. Completely untouched. The only thing that had sizzled was a small bit of dust that had fallen on the board before Grillby ignited it. She was proud of their work - it had been her suggestion to use sealant _and_ bromine. And it had worked. She smiled, albeit grinning inwardly at their success.

Gaster smiled outwardly at the success. He stood up, rolling down his sleeves and shrugging back on his lab coat, resuming his usual almost austere look. “A good idea with the sealant, Frisk” He praised with his hands. Grillby handed him the wood back. Gaster examined and hummed a bit, the sealant also seeming have made the wood slightly heat resistant as well. It didn’t feel like it had just been intense flames, so that was also a success. “Grillby, you are free to go.” He signed.

Grilby stood up, putting his glove back on and straightening the leather jacket. He looked to Frisk and held out his hand again. “A pleasure meeting someone as hot as me~” He hummed.

She blushed and took his hand, shaking it a little.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you too, Grillby.” She said politely, giving him a sweet smile. It was a shame he had to leave so soon - it almost seemed like Gaster would compete with him a bit. Nonetheless, she turned to put the wood on the table, knowing she should be professional and not flirt any longer with Grillby - certainly not wishing he left his number or anything.

“Well, he was interesting.” She signed to Gaster.

Grillby blew her a kiss on the way out, Gaster with his arms folded and shaking his head at Grillby. The young fire elemental walked back out. He did make a pit stop at Frisk’s car. He knew it was Frisks because humans and monsters had different license plate arrangements, like how different countries or states might do. He stopped at her car and pulled out a special pen for fire elementals to use (thanks to Gaster) and then wrote down on a piece of paper his number and stuck it to her windshield. He hopped on his motorbike and drove off.

Gaster looked to Frisk at her statement about Grillby. He merely gave a shrug. “He is young, quite foolish but… he has potential.” He signed, thinking to how powerful his flames could be. Dyne would probably want him to fight alongside her if the need arose, and she knew what he could do. Thankfully the elemental was quite laid back when not flirting. He shook his head. He took the notes she had taken, and his own and started talking through them, comparing them and giving her tips on how to write in shorthand wing dings. He was also a bit glad that Frisk had ignored Grillby’s nickname of ‘Dings’ that he had said.

“So…” She signed, moving to clean up. “What does ‘Dings’ mean?” She asked, glancing over at him. “I mean…. where does he get the word dings from to call you?” She signed, leaning against the counter after she had finished the basic cleaning tasks.

Of course he had jinxed himself by thinking that. He glanced at her then shook his head. He decided to be honest, and hopefully slightly humerus. “Well… W D, in W D Gaster is rather obviously, an abbreviation. W D Gaster stands for Wing Dings Gaster. So… Dings, is that part of my name.”  He signed a bit embarrassed. He had the very slightest hint of purple blush on his cheeks from said embarrassment. “Though, I prefer to go by Gaster.” He quickly signed for clarification. The last thing he needed was _another_ acquaintance to start calling him Dings.

Wing Dings….like the font she had to constantly transcribe. It was honestly very fitting.  Still, Dings was a very...humorous nickname for him. She thought of him as very stoic and professional, and to dub him as ‘dings’, well…

Maybe if they were closer, she’d call him that. Just to see him blush. Purple was a very nice color on him.

“Understood, Gaster.” She signed, nodding to him. However, a smirk was clearly seen on her features as she considered his nickname for a very, very brief moment.

Gaster probably would have sighed in relief. Instead, he signed in relief. He could tell by that smirk that she found it amusing and it made it all the more embarrassing to him. At least she hadn’t called him that, so he was mildly safe from that for now.

“Thank you. I believe it is your weekend, so I will see you after.” He gave a smile and a nod, already walking her to the door so that he could hold it open for her.

"Take care~" Frisk responded with a smile, whisking out of the door and heading out to her car. She furrowed her eyebrows at the piece of paper with a scribble on it; she snagged it and slid into her care before reading it. She shook her head, heat rising to her cheeks. She was finding it hard to believe that Grillby had  _actually_ left his number for her. Should she text him? She wasn't sure, to be honest. Was Gaster still staring at her? No, he had already gone inside, thankfully. Still, that was embarrassing. She tossed the number to the passenger seat, and, with that, drove off.


End file.
